Chapter 160 Taking the Baby Scavenging 2
Today, Zuo Shan chose collection point number 21, which is 32 kilometers away from the base, making it one of the long-distance collection points.
The reason for choosing this place is that, as marked on the map, this area was a vast grassland before the cataclysm, with a wide variety of wild plants, but no large mutated beasts.
After all, she was with her baby. Even if they encountered a man-eating second-tier mutated squirrel like the one at the beginning, which the baby could handle, she was afraid that the baby, Ah Chen, would be frightened.
Zuo Shan intended for Ah Chen to be exposed to this world full of mutated plants and animals from a young age, but he couldn't be exposed to something so ferocious right away.
It's best to start by looking at small mutant beasts like the silly ones, and then gradually get used to larger, more ferocious beasts.
Before leaving, she had already planned with everyone that if they encountered a large beast, she would use her speed ability to run away while carrying the baby, while the little baby would pull Pandora up a tree, and the chestnut would hide in the nearby grass.
It's not that I don't feel sorry for Mao Li, but because he is a mechanical being, he doesn't have the scent or aroma of human flesh. Once he activates his invisibility, even Xiao Bao, who knows him well, can't smell him, and other mutated beasts can't find him either.
After staying indoors for a while, even at a slower pace, Zuo Shan was still panting heavily when he arrived at his destination.
In contrast, Pan Duole and Xiao Bao were both full of energy and showed no signs of exhaustion.
Zuo Shan felt a pang of jealousy: Second-tier superpowers are so much stronger than her zero-tier physical abilities. Everyone else has advanced, but she's still stuck at zero-tier. It's so unfair!
Regarding this question, the encyclopedia explains that female superpowered individuals often experience a decrease in their superpower level during pregnancy. As a level zero superpowered individual, her level could not decrease any further, but the possibility of advancing to a higher level in the short term was also slim.
Every time Zuo Shan sees the baby give her an unconscious, toothless smile, she feels that the price she paid was worth it.
Furthermore, Mao Li also said that the reason she awakened her superpowers after adulthood was most likely because she benefited from the fact that her baby was born with superpowers, so she had even less to say.
Zuo Shan stayed behind to rest, while Pan Duole and Mao Li each chose a direction and began their day of collecting.
Xiao Bao stayed by her side to look after the stroller and also to keep watch.
Along the way, it has learned to push the stroller, and it does so very smoothly. When it encounters a large pothole, it can even control the stroller to levitate and fly over it.
This is a new skill it has recently learned by using newly purchased scrap metal as a toy.
However, controlling a stroller to fly in the air is quite taxing on one's superpowers, and its limit is only one minute.
So when Zuo Shan encounters a pothole on the road, he will pick up the baby, put the stroller into the space button, and then go around it.
Xiao Bao's special ability can save her life in critical moments, so she doesn't want to waste it so carelessly.
After resting, Zuo Shan noticed that the baby was still asleep, so she began collecting things nearby.
After the mutation, the grass on the grassland is 1 to 5 meters tall on average. Although the branches are not very thick, they look somewhat like trees.
The first plant detected on the left side was a plant that was over two meters tall. It had many leaves that looked like chive leaves, and yellow, wheat-ear-shaped fruits grew in the middle.
"Beep! High-radiation mutant sheepgrass leaves detected. This species is a perennial plant of the Poaceae family with spike-like inflorescences. It has high nutritional value but poor taste. It is not recommended to collect it."
When the voice announcement came, Zuo Shan was not misled by the prompt; instead, he was secretly delighted.
The leaves of mature sheepgrass are indeed tough and astringent, making them difficult for humans to swallow; only domesticated animals with coarse palates like cattle and sheep enjoy eating them.
However, she had heard from a teammate from the grasslands that in early spring, when the tender leaves of the sheepgrass were just sprouting, she and her friends would pick them and eat them raw.
It has a tender texture and a rich grassy aroma. After blanching it in boiling water, it can be stir-fried or used in soups, and it tastes quite good.
However, once the leaves of sheepgrass become old, they become coarse fiber, tough and astringent, making them difficult to swallow. Yet, it is one of the most beloved pasture grasses for cattle and sheep.
Sheepgrass also has a treasure: its spike-like inflorescence, which locals call sheepgrass knot. It has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and detoxifying effects. It can treat skin infections, promote urination and detoxification, and relieve pain and itching. It is a common all-purpose medicine powder in the homes of grassland people.
Her teammates said that in the past, sheepgrass could not be artificially cultivated because it produced few seeds and had a low germination rate. However, after hybridization and breeding by agricultural experts, the new varieties can produce a large number of seeds. After being sown on a large scale, they can resist and control desertification.
However, the mutated sheep grass she saw in front of her produced heavy, wheat-ear-shaped fruits that looked like sorghum. At a glance, each ear of fruit had dozens or even hundreds of seeds.
This sheepgrass plant, which occupies an area of about four or five square meters, produced more than a dozen spikes. It seems that it was thanks to this reproductive capacity that it did not become extinct after the cataclysm.
The left fan directly used a cutting blade to pluck all the ears of grain and store them in its space.
Her main purpose in coming out today was to collect seeds. If the planting goes smoothly, her whole family won't have to go out and suffer from the cold during the entire extreme cold weather.
Just after collecting the sheepgrass seeds, baby Achen woke up. Hearing him making soft "huffing and puffing" sounds, Zuo Shan knew he needed to relieve himself.
The child is very clever. He makes this sound every time he poops. After a few times, Zuo Shan figured out the pattern, and now he almost never poops in his diaper.
I took the baby out of the stroller, found a spot for him to relieve himself, washed his bottom with warm water from the storage compartment, and then poured warm reindeer milk into a bottle for him to drink.
Baby Achen is now used to drinking from a bottle, and his movements are focused and skillful, making it impossible to tell that he is a baby less than a month old.
After eating and drinking his fill, he opened his misty blue eyes wide and began to carefully observe his surroundings.
By now, it was already bright daylight, and the morning light dappled through the branches and leaves. Zuo Shan pointed to the dappled light and shadow among the grass and said, "Baby, this is the morning light. That's what your name, Achen, means. Look how beautiful it is!"
"Eee-ah-ah!" Baby Achen tried his best to communicate with his mother and even showed a toothless smile. The morning light shone on his fair and tender little face, like gold dust sprinkled on mutton fat jade. Seeing this, Zuo Shan's heart melted into spring water.
The vegetation here is lush. Zuo Shan put away the stroller, placed him on the baby carrier in front of her chest, and continued to look for new targets in the surrounding area.
Xiao Bao followed beside her, jumping up every now and then and gently tugging at A Chen's sleeve with its little paws. The baby would then reach out and pat its head, and then happily bark "ah ah" at it.
Zuo Shan didn't understand how babies and animal cubs communicated, but seeing how happy they both seemed, he let them interact freely.
The grassland was peaceful and serene in the morning. Zuo Shan carried baby Achen through the branches and leaves. The little guy would occasionally reach out to grab the grass blades, looking very excited.
Since birth, he had always stayed in the crib in the room, with only walls in his eyes. This was the first time he had come out to get some fresh air, and it was a qualitative leap for him, as he went from the house to nature.
Seeing the baby's happy face, Zuo Shan felt like she was taking her child on a spring outing, and for a moment she forgot to look for a new target.
"Eee-yah-yah!" The baby looked up at a branch lying across the front of him, only a few centimeters away from the top of Zuo Shan's head.
Zuo Shan followed his gaze and saw a bright yellow, slender flower.
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